Heading generation method and system of unmanned aerial vehicle

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a heading generation method of an unmanned aerial vehicle including the following steps of: making a preliminary flight for selecting a point of view to record flight waypoints, the waypoints including positioning data and flight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; receiving and recording flight waypoints of the unmanned aerial vehicle; generating a flight trajectory according to waypoints of the preliminary flight; editing the flight trajectory to obtain a new flight trajectory; and transmitting the edited new flight trajectory to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the new flight trajectory. The present invention further relates to a heading generation system of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicles,and in particular, to a heading generation method and system of anunmanned aerial vehicle.

In aerial photography missions, what plays a key role in the aerialphotography is selecting a point of view. Like the traditionalphotographing and video recording, the location and angle of a point ofview as well as shooting parameters decide the quality and artistry ofthe shots to a great extent. In the traditional fixed-pointphotographing and video recording, a photographer can easily adjust avideo camera at a fixed location. Shooting is carried out until he/shefinds a satisfactory point of view and parameters. When the shot istaken, it can be moved on to the next scene. Shooting and determiningthe point of view in one scene do not interfere with another scene.Different from the traditional photographing and video recording, inaerial shooting, the video camera is not static but in a continuousreal-time moving state, in which both the point of view and parametersat any time of the flight are needed to be accurate. It is moredifficult to ensure such accuracy than in the traditional fixed-pointphotographing and video recording, because the photographer has nochance of repeatedly adjusting the point of view and making comparisonof the views after the flight begins. The flight has to be completed inone take once it has begun, unless post-editing is conducted when theflight route is navigated multiple times. How a task of continuousshooting a plurality of target objects or scenes is completed and how anaircraft with its onboard aerial photography apparatus completes highquality shooting quickly involve flight trajectory planning of theaerial photography aircraft. That is, it is a flight route generationproblem for aerial photography.

There are two kinds of existing flight route generation methods foraerial photography. In one method, an optimal flight route is directlyselected from multiple test flights carried out by a flight operator bycomparing the test flights. On-site control of the flight operator isrelied on during shooting. In the other method, a target flight route isgenerated by first setting target waypoints and shooting angles on amap, and then, through manual operations or computer control, having theaircraft completing the flight over the target waypoints according to acertain order.

For the first flight route generation method for aerial photography,since it is difficult for the operator's operation to achieve a preciseand perfect effect all the time, the flight operator will need to carryout shooting around a target object or scene in multiple flights. Thisnot only increases the time of flight operation and the cost ofemploying the flight operator, but also makes it difficult to ensure thequality of shooting. An especially skilled pilot can control the flightroute precisely, but such an operator is very rare, and, at the sametime, it is also difficult to have a professional photographerefficiently cooperate and communicate with the pilot. For the secondmethod, although dependence on the pilot is reduced, setting waypointson the map manually could lead to some blind spots simply because it isimpossible to get what you see on the map. The manually-set waypointscannot guarantee the optimal shooting distance and angle, and cannotguarantee the high efficiency of continuous shooting. If an object notmarked on the map is present, for example, a tree or a new building, themanner of planning a flight route on the map may bring about a potentialsafety hazard. For example, the aircraft could crash into the buildingduring an actual flight.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A technical problem to be mainly solved in the present invention is toprovide a heading generation method and system of an unmanned aerialvehicle, which can replace manual real-time precise control over theaircraft at a shooting site to greatly shorten the time of man-madeflight operation and avoid influences of human factors on the quality ofaerial photography. At the same time, the heading generation method andsystem of an unmanned aerial vehicle can avoid the blindness caused bysetting waypoints on the map, thus guaranteeing the optimal shootingangle and distance and ensuring that the aircraft and its onboardapparatus can rapidly and efficiently complete high-quality aerialphotography assignments.

To solve the foregoing technical problem, a technical solution adoptedin the present invention is as follows: a heading generation method ofan unmanned aerial vehicle is provided, including the following stepsof: making a preliminary flight for selecting a point of view to receiveand record flight waypoints of the unmanned aerial vehicle, thewaypoints including positioning data and flight altitude information ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle; generating a flight trajectory according towaypoints of the preliminary flight; editing the flight trajectory toobtain a new flight trajectory; and transmitting the edited new flighttrajectory to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmanned aerialvehicle to fly according to the new flight trajectory.

The method further includes a step of: editing attitude information ofan imaging device, and transmitting the edited attitude information ofthe imaging device to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the imagingdevice to take a photograph according to an edited attitude.

The unmanned aerial vehicle is provided thereon with a gimbal, whichincludes at least one turning shaft. The imaging device is disposed onthe gimbal and is rotatable with rotation of the gimbal, and the editingattitude information of an imaging device is editing a rotation angle ofthe at least one turning shaft of the gimbal.

The method further includes a step of: editing a shooting parameter ofan imaging device, and transmitting the edited shooting parameter of theimaging device to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the imagingdevice to take a photograph according to the edited shooting parameter.

The flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned bysmoothly transitioning collected discrete point data to form a smoothcurve.

The flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned as aline through respective sampling points.

The method further includes a step of: recording image information of animage captured by an imaging device, displaying, in combination with amap, positioning data, and flight altitude information of the unmannedaerial vehicle at one point of the trajectory, attitude information ofthe imaging device, and an image captured by the imaging devicecorresponding to the point, and editing the new flight trajectory.

The flight trajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding topositions where the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers, and a smoothoptimized flight route is generated between two disconnected nodes in amanner of editing the flight trajectory into a Bezier curve.

The method further includes a step of: editing attitude information ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle, and transmitting the edited attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle to the unmanned aerialvehicle to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to anedited attitude.

The editing attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle isediting pitch angle information, roll angle information, and yaw angleinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

To solve the foregoing technical problem, a technical solution adoptedin the present invention is as follows: a heading generation system ofan unmanned aerial vehicle is provided, including: a receiving modulefor receiving and recording flight waypoints of a preliminary flight ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle, the flight waypoints including positioningdata of the unmanned aerial vehicle and flight altitude information ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle; a flight trajectory generation module forcalculating a flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle accordingto the flight waypoints received by the receiving module; a flighttrajectory editing module for editing the flight trajectory of theunmanned aerial vehicle calculated by the flight trajectory generationmodule to obtain a new flight trajectory; and a transmission module fortransmitting the new flight trajectory edited by the flight trajectoryediting module to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly according to the new flight trajectory.

The unmanned aerial vehicle is provided thereon with a gimbal forcarrying an imaging device. The heading generation system furtherincludes a gimbal attitude editing module. The receiving module receivesand records image information of an image captured by the imagingdevice, and the gimbal attitude editing module edits attitudeinformation of the imaging device.

The gimbal on the unmanned aerial vehicle includes at least one turningshaft. The imaging device is disposed on the gimbal and is rotatablewith rotation of the gimbal, and the editing attitude information of theimaging device is editing a rotation angle of the at least one turningshaft.

The heading generation system further includes a shooting parameterediting module for editing a shooting parameter of the imaging device,and the transmission module transmits the edited shooting parameter tothe unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the imaging device to take aphotograph according to the edited shooting parameter.

The flight trajectory generation module positions the flight trajectoryof the unmanned aerial vehicle by smoothly transitioning collecteddiscrete point data to form a smooth curve.

The flight trajectory generation module positions the flight trajectoryof the unmanned aerial vehicle as a line through respective samplingpoints.

The flight trajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding topositions where the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers, and the flighttrajectory editing module generates a smooth optimized flight routebetween two nodes in a manner of editing the flight trajectory into aBezier curve.

The waypoints further include attitude information of the unmannedaerial vehicle. The heading generation system further includes anunmanned aerial vehicle attitude editing module for editing the attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the transmission moduleis further used for transmitting the attitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle edited by the unmanned aerial vehicle attitudeediting module to the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The unmanned aerial vehicle attitude editing module is used for editingpitch angle information, roll angle information, and yaw angleinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The present invention has the following beneficial effects. As differentfrom the situation in the prior art, in the heading generation system ofan unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention, theflight trajectory editing module edits a flight trajectory of theunmanned aerial vehicle calculated by the flight trajectory generationmodule to obtain a new flight trajectory, which thus can replace manualreal-time precise control over the aircraft at a shooting site togreatly shorten the time of man-made flight operation and avoidinfluences of human factors on the quality of aerial photography. At thesame time, the heading generation system of an unmanned aerial vehicleaccording to the present invention can avoid the blindness caused bysetting waypoints on the map, thus guaranteeing the optimal shootingangle and distance and ensuring that the aircraft and its onboardapparatus can rapidly and efficiently complete high-quality aerialphotography assignments.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentby a review of the specification, claims, and appended figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings briefly described herein.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a heading generation method of an unmannedaerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates diagrams of a flight trajectory generated with themethod in FIG. 1 and an edited trajectory.

FIG. 3 is a functional module diagram of a heading generation system ofan unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The technical solution in embodiments of the present invention isclearly and completely described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It isapparent that the embodiments described are merely some embodiments ofthe present invention instead of all the embodiments. Based on theembodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained bypersons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative effortsshould fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Refer to FIG. 1, which is a flow chart of a heading generation method ofan unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The unmanned aerial vehicle is provided thereon with agimbal, a GPS positioning device, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), analtitude measurement device and the like. The gimbal is used forcarrying an imaging device, for example, a video camera, a camera, atelescope, a remote video camera, a measuring instrument or the like,for achieving fixing of the imaging device and randomly adjusting theattitude of the imaging device (for example, changing a tilt angle or ashooting direction of the imaging device) to achieve high-qualityshooting and/or photographing and the like. The gimbal is also providedthereon with a gimbal attitude sensor (GCU or IMU) for sensing theattitude of the gimbal. The heading generation method of the unmannedaerial vehicle includes the following steps.

S101: A preliminary flight for selecting a point of view is made toreceive and record flight waypoints, shooting angle information of animaging device, parameters set for the imaging device, and imageinformation of an image captured by the imaging device, the waypointsincluding positioning data and flight altitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an operator of the unmannedaerial vehicle remotely controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly inthe vicinity of a target to collect related waypoint information ofshooting and selecting point of view. In some key places, the flightoperator controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to hover, and the operatoradjusts the position, altitude, and attitude of the unmanned aerialvehicle, the attitude of the gimbal, and parameters of the imagingdevice similarly to the traditional fixed-point photographing. As thereis plenty of time and scenes are independent of one another, thephotographer can establish a point of view of a high quality. The GPSpositioning device of the unmanned aerial vehicle is used for acquiringthe position of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the inertialmeasurement unit (IMU) is used for collecting flight attitudes of theunmanned aerial vehicle. The parameters of the imaging device include anaperture, a shutter and the like.

S102: A flight trajectory is generated according to the waypoints of theflight for selecting a point of view.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle is in the course of flight, the flighttrajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle is calculated according topositioning data of the unmanned aerial vehicle collected by the GPSpositioning device, flight altitude information of the unmanned aerialvehicle collected by the altitude measurement device, and flightattitudes of the unmanned aerial vehicle collected by the inertialmeasurement unit. This is a process of fitting a continuous trajectorythrough points in discrete positions in a coordinate system. In general,there are two practices as follows.

The first practice is connecting points in adjacent positions in acoordinate system with a straight line. That is, it is a method oflinear interpolation. When there are enough sampling points on a curvetrajectory, a line passing through the sampling points can be regardedas an approximate trajectory.

The second practice is approximately locating the flight trajectory ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle by smoothly transitioning collected discretepoint data to form a smooth curve. That is, it is a method of nonlinearinterpolation. At present, what is widely applied to engineering ispolynomial interpolation, and such a method can reduce errors between afitted curve and an actual trajectory curve to some extent.

In this embodiment, the flight trajectory is a Bezier curve. The flighttrajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding to the positionswhere the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers.

In this embodiment, the flight trajectory of the unmanned aerialvehicle, shooting angle information of the imaging device, theparameters set for the imaging device, and the image information of animage captured by the imaging device of the unmanned aerial vehicle arereceived and recorded through a ground receiving terminal, for example,a mobile phone or a handheld device (e.g., iPad).

In other embodiments, it is also feasible to record flight waypoints andthe shooting angle information of the imaging device directly throughthe unmanned aerial vehicle and transmit them to a computer whichreceives and records the flight waypoints and the shooting angleinformation of the imaging device.

In other embodiments, the waypoints may also only include positioningdata and flight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, butdoes not include flight attitude information of the unmanned aerialvehicle. Therefore, the flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicleis calculated only using the positioning data and flight altitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

S103: The flight trajectory is edited to obtain a new flight trajectory.

The flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the shooting angleinformation of the imaging device and the image information of an imagecaptured by the imaging device are all transmitted to a computer. Inthis embodiment, when the operator randomly clicks on a point on theflight trajectory through a mouse cursor, the computer may display, incombination with a map, positioning data and flight altitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle at the point of the trajectory, attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, attitude information of theimaging device, parameters set for the imaging device and an imagecaptured by the imaging device corresponding to the point.

The flight trajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding to thepositions where the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers, for example, asshown in FIG. 2, a node 1, a node 2, a node 3, a node 4, a node 5, and anode 6. The operator can see, on the computer, positioning data, flightaltitude information and flight attitude information of the unmannedaerial vehicle at any point of the trajectory, the attitude informationof the imaging device, the parameters set for the imaging device, andthe image captured by the imaging device corresponding to the point.Therefore, on the premise that the flight trajectory is not a straightline, when the operator hopes that the unmanned aerial vehicle does notpass through the node 2 the next time it flies, the operator directlyconnects two adjacent nodes of the node not to be passed, for example,the node 1 and the node 3, with a straight line to generate a smoothoptimized flight route between the node 1 and the node 3. It can beunderstood that the node may also be any point selected on the flighttrajectory, which is not limited to the position where the unmannedaerial vehicle hovers.

Under other circumstances, when the operator hopes that the unmannedaerial vehicle does not pass through the node 2 and the node 3 the nexttime it flies, the operator directly connects the two nodes thusdisconnected in the flight trajectory, for example, the node 1 and thenode 4, with a straight line.

It can be understood that the manner of editing a new flight trajectoryis not limited to the manner of connecting with a straight line, and itis also feasible to adopt a manner of editing the flight trajectory intoa Bezier curve between any two nodes to generate a smooth optimizedflight route. Using a Bezier curve to achieve fitting has the followingreasons. One reason is that it is very convenient to define a curvetrajectory through Bezier control points. Since it happens to be thatthe control points can be combined with characteristics of the aircraftin an actual movement (for example, velocity, direction and the like),it is natural that the flight trajectory can be more closelyapproximated. The other reason is that the Bezier curve may alsomaintain good smoothness in piecewise interpolation, and the overalleffect is better than other piecewise interpolation methods.

S104: Attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle is edited.

In this embodiment, the waypoints further include flight attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle such as pitch angleinformation, roll angle information, and yaw angle information of theunmanned aerial vehicle, is edited. In this embodiment, when theattitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle is edited at onenode, the unmanned aerial vehicle acts according to the edited attitudefrom that node to the next node. It can be understood that, in otherembodiments, it is also feasible that, when the attitude information ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle is edited at one node, the unmanned aerialvehicle acts according to the edited attitude of the unmanned aerialvehicle for the whole flight route.

S105: Attitude information of the imaging device is edited.

In this embodiment, the gimbal on the unmanned aerial vehicle is athree-axis gimbal, which includes a pitch axis, a roll axis, and a yawaxis. The imaging device is disposed on the gimbal and is rotatable withrotation of the gimbal. For any node, a rotation parameter of the gimbalis edited. That is, a rotation angle of the three axes is edited asrequired. In this embodiment, when attitude information of the gimbal isedited at one node, the gimbal acts according to the edited rotationparameter of the gimbal from that node to the next node. It can beunderstood that, in other embodiments, it is also feasible that, whenattitude information of the gimbal is edited at one node, the gimbalacts according to the edited rotation parameter of the gimbal for thewhole flight route.

In other embodiments, the gimbal may also be a single-axis or two-axisgimbal.

S106: A shooting parameter of the imaging device is edited.

The shooting parameter of the imaging device includes the size of theaperture, the size of the shutter and the like. In this embodiment, whenthe shooting parameter of the imaging device is edited at one node, theimaging device shoots according to the edited shooting parameter fromthat node to the next node. It can be understood that, in otherembodiments, it is also feasible that, when the shooting parameter ofthe imaging device is edited at one node, the imaging device shootsaccording to the edited shooting parameter for the whole flight route.

S107: The edited new flight trajectory, the edited attitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle, the edited attitude information of theimaging device, and the edited shooting parameter of the imaging deviceare transmitted to the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmannedaerial vehicle to fly according to the new flight trajectory and the newattitude, each axis of the gimbal to rotate according to the editedrotation angle, and the imaging device to take a photograph according tothe edited shooting parameter.

In this embodiment, the edited new flight trajectory, the editedattitude information of the imaging device, and the edited shootingparameter are transmitted to a main controller of the unmanned aerialvehicle through a data line. In other implementation manners, they mayalso be sent through wireless transmission, which is not limited to thisembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flight route automatic generation system 100 ofan unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the presentinvention includes a receiving module 10, a flight trajectory generationmodule 20, a flight trajectory editing module 30, an unmanned aerialvehicle attitude editing module 40, a gimbal attitude editing module 50,a shooting parameter editing module 60, and a transmission module 70.

The unmanned aerial vehicle is provided thereon with a gimbal, a GPSpositioning device, an inertial measurement unit, an altitudemeasurement device and the like. The gimbal is used for carrying animaging device, for example, a video camera, a camera, a telescope, aremote video camera, a measuring instrument or the like, for achievingfixing of the imaging device and randomly adjusting the attitude of theimaging device (for example, a tilt angle and a shooting direction ofthe imaging device are changed) to achieve high-quality shooting and/orphotographing and the like. The gimbal is also provided thereon with anattitude sensor (GCU/IMU) for sensing the attitude of the gimbal.

In this embodiment of the present invention, an operator of the unmannedaerial vehicle remotely controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly inthe vicinity of a target to collect related waypoint information ofshooting and selecting a point of view. In some key places, the flightoperator controls the unmanned aerial vehicle to hover, and the operatoradjusts the position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, theattitude of the gimbal, and shooting parameters of the imaging devicesimilarly to the traditional fixed-point photographing. As there isplenty of time and scenes are independent of one another, thephotographer can establish a point of view of a high quality. The GPSpositioning device of the unmanned aerial vehicle is used for acquiringthe position information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and theinertial measurement unit is used for measuring flight attitudesinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle is in the course of flight, the GPSpositioning device collects positioning data of the unmanned aerialvehicle, the altitude measurement device collects flight altitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle simultaneously, and theinertial measurement unit collects flight attitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle.

The receiving module 10 is used for receiving and recording positioningdata of the unmanned aerial vehicle for the preliminary flight, flightaltitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, flight attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, shooting angle informationof an imaging device, a shooting parameter of the imaging device, andimage information of an image captured by the imaging device.

The flight trajectory generation module 20 is used for calculating aflight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to thepositioning data of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the flight altitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the attitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle received by the receiving module 10.

In this embodiment, the flight trajectory generation module 20 generatesthe flight trajectory with methods of fitting a continuous trajectoryaccording to points in discrete positions in a coordinate system, asspecifically set forth below.

A first method is that the flight trajectory generation module 20connects points in adjacent positions in a coordinate system with astraight line. That is, it is a method of linear interpolation. Whenthere are enough sampling points on a curve trajectory, a line passingthrough the sampling points can be regarded as an approximatetrajectory.

A second method is that the flight trajectory generation module 20approximately locates the flight trajectory of the unmanned aerialvehicle by smoothly transitioning collected discrete point data to forma smooth curve. That is, it is a method of nonlinear interpolation. Atpresent, what is widely applied to engineering is polynomialinterpolation, and such a method can reduce errors between a fittedcurve and an actual trajectory curve to some extent.

In this embodiment, the flight trajectory is a Bezier curve. The flighttrajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding to the positionswhere the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers.

In other embodiments, the waypoints may also only include positioningdata and flight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, butdoes not include flight attitude information of the unmanned aerialvehicle. Therefore, the flight trajectory generation module 20calculates the flight trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle usingonly the positioning data and flight altitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle.

To obtain a new flight trajectory, the flight trajectory editing module30 is used for editing the flight trajectory of the unmanned aerialvehicle calculated by the flight trajectory generation module 20.

In this embodiment, when the operator randomly clicks a point on theflight trajectory through a mouse cursor, the computer may display, incombination with a map, positioning data and flight altitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle at the point of the trajectory, attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, attitude information of theimaging device, and an image captured by the imaging devicecorresponding to the point.

The flight trajectory includes a plurality of nodes corresponding to thepositions where the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers, for example, asshown in FIG. 2, a node 1, a node 2, a node 3, a node 4, a node 5 and anode 6. The operator can see, on the computer, positioning data andflight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle at any pointof the trajectory, the attitude information of the unmanned aerialvehicle, the attitude information of the imaging device, and the imagecaptured by the imaging device corresponding to the point. Therefore, onthe premise that the flight trajectory is not a straight line, when theoperator hopes that the unmanned aerial vehicle does not pass throughthe node 2 the next time it flies, the operator directly connects twoadjacent nodes of the node not to be passed, for example, the node 1 andthe node 3, with a straight line to generate a smooth optimized flightroute between the node 1 and the node 3.

Under other circumstances, when the operator hopes that the unmannedaerial vehicle does not pass through the node 2 and the node 3 the nexttime it flies, the flight trajectory editing module 30 directly connectsthe two nodes thus disconnected in the flight trajectory, for example,the node 1 and the node 4, with a straight line.

It can be understood that the manner in which the flight trajectoryediting module 30 edits a new flight trajectory is not limited to themanner of connecting with a straight line, and it is also feasible toadopt a manner of editing the flight trajectory between any two nodesinto a Bezier curve to generate a smooth optimized flight route. Using aBezier curve to achieve fitting has the following reasons. One reason isthat it is very convenient to define a curve trajectory through Beziercontrol points. Since it happens to be that the control points can becombined with characteristics of the aircraft in an actual movement (forexample, velocity, direction and the like), it is natural that theflight trajectory can be more closely approximated. The other reason isthat the Bezier curve may also maintain good smoothness in piecewiseinterpolation, and the overall effect is better than other piecewiseinterpolation methods.

The unmanned aerial vehicle attitude editing module 40 is used forediting the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

When the waypoints further include flight attitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle attitude editingmodule 40 edits the flight attitude information of the unmanned aerialvehicle, for example, pitch angle information, roll angle information,and yaw angle information of the unmanned aerial vehicle. In thisembodiment, when the unmanned aerial vehicle attitude editing module 40edits the attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle at onenode, the unmanned aerial vehicle acts according to the edited attitudefrom that node to the next node. It can be understood that, in otherembodiments, it is also feasible that, when the unmanned aerial vehicleattitude editing module 40 edits the attitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle at one node, the unmanned aerial vehicle actsaccording to the edited attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle for thewhole flight route.

The gimbal attitude editing module 50 is used for editing attitudeinformation of the imaging device.

In this embodiment, the gimbal on the unmanned aerial vehicle is athree-axis gimbal, which includes a pitch axis, a roll axis and a yawaxis. The imaging device is disposed on the gimbal and is rotatable withrotation of the gimbal. For any node, the gimbal attitude editing module50 edits a rotation parameter of the gimbal with reference to shootingangle information of the imaging device and image information of animage captured by the imaging device received and recorded by thereceiving module 10. That is, a rotation angle of the three axes isedited as required. In this embodiment, when the gimbal attitude editingmodule 50 edits attitude information of the gimbal at one node, thegimbal acts according to the edited rotation parameter of the gimbalfrom that node to the next node. It can be understood that, in otherembodiments, it is also feasible that, when the gimbal attitude editingmodule 50 edits attitude information of the gimbal at one node, thegimbal acts according to the edited rotation parameter of the gimbal forthe whole flight route. The gimbal attitude editing module 50 may alsoedit attitude information of the gimbal respectively at a plurality ofnodes at the same time, which is not limited to this embodiment.

In other embodiments, the gimbal may also be a single-axis or two-axisgimbal.

The shooting parameter editing module 60 is used for editing theshooting parameter of the imaging device. The shooting parameterincludes the size of the aperture, the size of the shutter and the like.In this embodiment, when the shooting parameter editing module 60 editsthe shooting parameter of the imaging device at one node, the imagingdevice shoots according to the edited shooting parameter from that nodeto the next node. It can be understood that, in other embodiments, it isalso feasible that, when the shooting parameter editing module 60 editsthe shooting parameter of the imaging device at one node, the imagingdevice shoots according to the edited shooting parameter for the wholeflight route.

The transmission module 70 is used for transmitting the new flighttrajectory edited by the flight trajectory editing module 30, theattitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle edited by theunmanned aerial vehicle attitude editing module 40, the attitudeinformation of the imaging device edited by the gimbal attitude editingmodule 50, and the shooting parameter of the imaging device edited bythe shooting parameter editing module 60 to the unmanned aerial vehicleto cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the new flighttrajectory and each axis of the gimbal to rotate according to the editedrotation angle.

The heading generation method and system of an unmanned aerial vehiclecan replace manual real-time precise control over the aircraft at ashooting site to greatly shorten the time of man-made flight operationand avoid influences of human factors on the quality of aerialphotography. And at the same time, the heading generation method andsystem of an unmanned aerial vehicle can avoid the blindness caused bysetting waypoints on the map, thus guaranteeing the optimal shootingangle and distance and ensuring that the aircraft and its onboardapparatus can rapidly and efficiently complete high-quality aerialphotography assignments.

In the several embodiments provided in the present invention, it shouldbe understood that the disclosed system, device and method may beimplemented in another manner. The described device embodiments aboveare only schematic. For example, division of the module or unit ismerely division of a logical function, and division in another mannermay exist in actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units orcomponents may be combined or integrated into another system, or somefeatures may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the mutualcoupling or direct coupling or communication connections displayed ordiscussed may be implemented by using some interfaces, and the indirectcoupling or communication connections between the devices or units maybe implemented electrically, mechanically or in another form.

The units described as separate parts may be or may not be physicallyseparate, and parts displayed as units may be or may not be physicalunits, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on aplurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selectedaccording to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions ofthe embodiments.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the presentinvention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of theunits may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integratedinto one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in a form ofhardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional unit.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a softwarefunctional unit and sold or used as an independent product, theintegrated unit may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium.Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the presentinvention essentially, or the part that makes contributions to the priorart, or all or a part of the technical solutions may be embodied in aform of a software product. The computer software product is stored in astorage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing acomputer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or anetwork device) or a processor to perform all or a part of the steps ofthe methods described in the embodiments of the present invention. Theforegoing storage medium includes: any medium that can store a programcode, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a Read-OnlyMemory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or anoptical disc.

The above descriptions are merely embodiments of the present invention,but are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention.Any equivalent structure or equivalent process variation made by usingcontents of the specification and the drawings of the present invention,or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields,should be likewise included in the patent protection scope of thepresent invention.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A flight route generation method for aerialphotography using an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: receiving, ona ground terminal, flight waypoints of a preliminary flight of theunmanned aerial vehicle, the flight waypoints comprising at least one ofan attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, an attitudeinformation of a gimbal on the unmanned aerial vehicle, or a shootingparameter of an imaging device on the unmanned aerial vehicle; editingat least one of the flight waypoints of the preliminary flight, on theground terminal, to obtain an edited flight route; and transmitting theedited flight route to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to actaccording to the edited flight route after the preliminary flight ismade.
 21. The flight route generation method according to claim 20,wherein editing at least one of the flight waypoints of the preliminaryflight route comprises editing the attitude information of the unmannedaerial vehicle to obtain an edited attitude information; andtransmitting the edited flight route comprises transmitting the editedattitude information to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to actaccording to the edited attitude information.
 22. The flight routegeneration method according to claim 21, wherein editing the attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises editing at leastone of pitch angle information, roll angle information, or yaw angleinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
 23. The flight routegeneration method according to claim 20, wherein editing at least one ofthe flight waypoints of the preliminary flight route comprises editingthe attitude information of the gimbal to obtain an edited attitudeinformation of the gimbal; and transmitting the edited flight routecomprises transmitting the edited attitude information of the gimbal tocause the gimbal to rotate according to the edited attitude informationof the gimbal.
 24. The flight route generation method according to claim23, wherein editing the attitude information of the gimbal comprisesediting a rotation parameter of the gimbal.
 25. The flight routegeneration method according to claim 20, wherein editing at least one ofthe flight waypoints of the preliminary flight route comprises editingthe shooting information to obtain an edited shooting parameter; andtransmitting the edited flight route comprises transmitting the editedshooting parameter to control the imaging device to take a photographaccording to the edited shooting parameter.
 26. A flight routegeneration system for aerial photography using an unmanned aerialvehicle, comprising: a receiving module for receiving flight waypointsof a preliminary flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the flightwaypoints comprising at least one of an attitude information of theunmanned aerial vehicle, an attitude information of a gimbal on theunmanned aerial vehicle, or a shooting parameter of an imaging device onthe unmanned aerial vehicle; an editing module for editing at least oneof the flight waypoints of the preliminary flight to obtain an editedflight route; and a transmission module for transmitting the editedflight route to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to act according tothe edited flight route after the preliminary flight is made.
 27. Theflight route generation system according to claim 26, where the editingmodule comprises an attitude editing module for editing an attitudeinformation of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and wherein the transmissionmodule is further configured to transmit the edited attitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle toact according to the edited attitude.
 28. The flight route generationsystem according to claim 27, wherein editing the attitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises editing at least one of pitchangle information, roll angle information, or yaw angle information ofthe unmanned aerial vehicle.
 29. The flight route generation systemaccording to claim 26, where the editing module comprises a gimbalattitude editing module for editing an attitude information of a gimbalon the unmanned aerial vehicle; and wherein the transmission module isfurther configured to transmit the edited attitude information of thegimbal to cause the gimbal to rotate according to the edited attitudeinformation of the gimbal.
 30. The flight route generation systemaccording to claim 29, wherein the gimbal attitude editing module isconfigured to edit a rotation parameter of the gimbal.
 31. The flightroute generation system according to claim 26, where the editing modulecomprises a shooting parameter editing module for editing a shootingparameter of an imaging device of the unmanned aerial vehicle; andwherein the transmission module is further configured to transmit theedited shooting parameter to control the imaging device to take aphotograph according to the edited shooting parameter.
 32. A device forgenerating a flight route of an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: animaging device configured to take an aerial photograph; a gimbal with atleast one turning shaft, wherein the imaging device is disposed on thegimbal and is rotatable with rotation of the gimbal; an attitude sensorfor collecting an attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, aprocessor electrically connected with the imaging device, the gimbal,and the attitude sensor, the processor being configured to: collectflight waypoints of a preliminary flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle,the flight waypoints comprising at least one of the attitude informationof the unmanned aerial vehicle, an attitude information of the gimbal,or a shooting parameter of the imaging device; transmit the collectedflight waypoints to a ground terminal for generating an edited flightroute; and receive the edited flight route, from the ground terminal,the edited flight route; and cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to actaccording to the edited flight route after the preliminary flight ismade.
 33. The device according to claim 32, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: transmit the collected attitude information tothe ground terminal for generating an edited attitude information for atleast one of the flight waypoints of the edited flight route; andreceive the edited attitude information, from the ground terminal, tocause the unmanned aerial vehicle to act according to the editedattitude information.
 34. The device according to claim 33, wherein theedited attitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises atleast one of edited pitch angle information, edited roll angleinformation, or edited yaw angle information of the unmanned aerialvehicle.
 35. The device according to claim 32, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: transmit the attitude information of the gimbalto the ground terminal for generating an edited attitude information ofthe gimbal for at least one of the flight waypoints of the edited flightroute; and receive the edited attitude information of the gimbal, fromthe ground terminal, to cause the gimbal to rotate according to theedited attitude information of the gimbal.
 36. The device according toclaim 35, wherein the edited attitude information of the gimbalcomprises an edited rotation parameter of the gimbal.
 37. The deviceaccording to claim 32, wherein the processor is further configured to:transmit the shooting information to the ground terminal for generatingan edited shooting parameter for at least one of the flight waypoints ofthe edited flight route; and receive the edited shooting parameter, fromthe ground terminal, to control the imaging device to take a photographaccording to the edited shooting parameter.